Across the United States, there are hundreds of prisoners serving sentences of life without the possibility of parole for crimes committed when they were juveniles, but who now have an opportunity to be freed from newly imposed indeterminate sentences once they complete lengthy minimum terms of confinement. I am one of them.
Call us the Miller family. (After the 2003 Supreme Court Miller vs. Alabama ruling that determined imposing a life without parole sentence on a juvenile violated constitutional protections from cruel and unusual punishment.)
My original sentence was imposed for crimes that I committed when I was 14. However, in light of the Court ruling, the Washington State legislature gave prisoners like me the opportunity to be freed—provided that we are deemed by the parole board to be unlikely to “commit new criminal law violations if released.”
I must admit I rejoiced at this news after serving 20 years of a natural-life sentence. Yet as I moved closer to completing my newly imposed minimum term, I came to realize that the light at the end of the tunnel might actually be a train: my former cellmate, Anthony Powers, was denied parole even though, to many in the know, he was a model of reform.
Take the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Corrections (DOC), for example. Prior to the parole hearing, he wrote to Powers declaring:
“I recognize your contributions to making Washington State prisons safer for both offenders and staff. Your efforts have made a difference. I also believe those efforts will continue to make a difference for the men that are released back into the community [ ] I encourage you to continue to be a role model for other offenders. You have made a difference in many lives.”
Nevertheless, when Powers later underwent the requisite psychological assessment to determine whether he posed a recidivism risk, the conclusion was that he posed a high risk to reoffend.
This made me wary—for the arc of our lives had striking similarities. I too had committed a heinous crime when I was a teen. Therefore, to my mind, if it could be said that “a role model for other offenders” posed a risk to public safety, surely the same could be said for me.
My history provided all the elements necessary to craft a narrative to support keeping me confined, permanently, or setting me free—notwithstanding the results of a potentially negative psychological risk analysis.
Quite simply, there was the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The case for freedom could summarize that “I used to be dangerous. Now I can effectively speak in public. I can present cogent legal arguments. I am a columnist.”
An account of my history confined could emphasize:
“I had spent almost a decade doing little more than fighting prisoners and assaulting guards, until I somehow found the strength to turn my anger into something positive. Now I write term papers and legal briefs that benefit both me and others confined with me [ ] No longer confined to an existence that the prison subculture glorifies, my intellect rather than ruthlessness is the basis for self-respect. This is the essence of rehabilitation.”
Were this the parole board’s conception of me, undoubtedly I would be freed.
This is the narrative that I tried to focus upon to prevent being consumed by worry over psychological methodologies that were, quite frankly, a mystery to me. But worrying was becoming all too easy. In doing research to understand the legal landscape governing the authority vested in parole boards, the case law that I read further unsettled me.
Consider the law.
Across the US, the release of a prisoner who is serving an indeterminate life sentence is often “subject entirely to the discretion of the Board, which may parole him now or never.” Therefore, a prisoner has an opportunity to be freed—but he may never have an opportunity to be free.
As for determining whether a prisoner is rehabilitated, parole boards assess “a multiplicity of imponderables, entailing primarily what a man is and what he may become rather than simply what he has done.”
Thus, parole can be denied “for a variety of reasons” that involve nothing more than “informed predictions as to what would best serve [correctional goals] or the safety and welfare of the inmate.”
All of this reading was chilling. Given the “multiplicity of imponderables” involved in this decision making, it seemed parole boards could do damn near anything.
Although the standard for parole eligibility is less discretionary when (as here) the governing statutes require prisoners to be freed unless a preponderance of the evidence shows that a disqualifying condition is present; in the final analysis, how a parole board weighs the evidence is entirely subjective.
Educated guesses and static risk assessments are all that most parole boards are left with. As a consequence, little has changed in the 50 years since the Washington Supreme Court gave voice to the mindset of parole boards:
This begs the question: How can a parole board with any degree of certainty utilize a rational means to separate prisoners who are “depraved, sadistic, cruel and ruthless” from those who pose little risk to public safety?
Psychological evaluations to measure a prisoner’s recidivism risk are one way to go about the process. In fact, they are mandated for Washington State prisoners affected by Miller v. Alabama and its progeny.
Prisoners just like me.
Which leads us back to my pre-parole hearing wariness about psychological risk assessments.
On which side of the coin would I fall on after undergoing such an analysis?
Rehabilitated or likely recidivist?
This question was resolved for me on Nov.7, 2017, when the Indeterminate Sentence Review Board informed me of the following:
“The Board commends Mr. Bourgeois for completing a significant amount of programming. However the Board has determined that he does not meet the statutory criteria for release at this time for the following reasons. Mr. Bourgeois has been assessed in his most recent psychological evaluation at a ‘Moderate to High’ risk to reoffend. Additionally, he has a history of serious violence while in prison, to include two felony assaults against Corrections Officers during his prison stay. Also, Mr. Bourgeois’ offense is particularly heinous as it was a revenge killing against victims of a crime for which they had been willing to testify in court to assist in securing a conviction of their perpetrator, Mr. Bourgeois’ brother.”
And that was the end for me: The parole board took note of the good, but was primarily influenced by the bad—and ugly.
Since this decision was reached, I have come to understand the methodology behind the DOC psychologist’s finding that I am a “Moderate to High risk to reoffend” if conditionally released. Indeed, my discovery gives insight into the difficulty in assessing the recidivism risk of those who have spent decades confined for crimes that they committed when they were minors.
Since there is no large-scale data specific to the parole outcomes of prisoners like me, psychologists within DOC rely upon the Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG) which was constructed and validated on a cohort comprised mostly of white Canadian male forensic patients.
Further, in its revised edition (VRAG-R), relies upon a sample of individuals who, for the most part, either plead or were found not guilty by reason of insanity and spent an average of four years imprisoned.
The VRAG-R is designed to measure the risk of future violence by those who committed their instant offense when they were adults, not adolescents and, as Dr. John Monahan, a preeminent expert on risk assessments, explains:
The VRAG-R scoring sheet, for instance, gives higher points if a person did not live with their parent(s) until they were at least age 16, are unmarried, and their crime(s) took place before they were age 26. These strikes are therefore baked in the cake when assessing those who are confined as adolescents because, ultimately, the assessment does not account for the fact that “children are different.”
Notwithstanding the efficacy of utilizing the VRAG-R to assess the potential risk I pose to public safety—as I said in the beginning—my history provided the means for crafting a narrative to support keeping me confined permanently, or setting me free.
In this instance, I just happened to fall within the category of those believed to be cloaking their criminogenic propensities.
I am still coming to terms with the notion that I am a likely recidivist.
I don’t know if I will be able to get over this.
Viktor E. Frankl, in Man’s Search for Meaning, observed that every case of suicide may not be “undertaken out of a feeling of meaninglessness, [but] it may well be that an individual’s impulse to take his life would have been overcome had he been aware of some meaning and purpose worth living for.”
I know exactly what he means.
Having been denied parole after 25 years of confinement for crimes committed when I was 14-years-old, I can now envision the day when all I will have to live for is writing my monthly columns for The Crime Report.
Jeremiah Bourgeois is a regular contributor to TCR, and an inmate in Washington State, where he has been serving a life sentence since the age of 14. He welcomes comments from readers. Those who wish to express their opinion regarding the decision to deny his release can contact the Indeterminate Sentence Review Board. Readers’ comments are welcome.
9 Comments
My faith is the only tool which helps me live with THIS. Readers please contact those decision makers. I am Jeremiah’s mother. I don’t believe that what I think matters to them. Thank you all of you who are touched by this. Emily Bourgeois. I live in Uganda.
I am saddened to learn of the decision that denied JJ Bourgeois his parole. After reading his (Jeremiah’s) article it seems that the proverbial carrot has been dangled before him, knowing all along that the chances are next to impossible that he would be freed.
Emily, I will pray for all of your family in hopes that the climate of today will not reduce the compassion that is needed in our society at this time.
Thank you for your article and your honest and open approach. The issue of risk tools is an area I am researching as a law academic in the UK, although not specifically for the criminal law. There are a number of serious flaws in current policy in both the UK and US, but at least these may soon be challenged in the UK. The forthcoming EU regulations (General Data Protection Regulations, GDPR) come into effect 25th May 2018, which include provisions to control automatic decision making, including profiling. The arguments have global impact and I hope that they may open up a way of challenging the arbitrary and unjust decision making, currently blighting many people’s lives.
Stephen
I agree
Please see my comments below.
I just happened upon this tragic story just now… in a quick internet research – 5 minutes using Googles. I see the premise of this injustice. This VRAG excel sheet / arbitrary tool that was just introduced to our planet in 2013 – not sure when WA state started using it, however it is a deeply flawed “tool” that is playing judge & jury with people who are incarcerated.
In my 5 quick minutes – I see it was created by Canadians & the subjects were Canadaians. The scores that the VRAG attributes to the incarcerateds early childhood is not comparable to youth in America. This is especially true of our nation’s poor black male children. I found this article from 2014 regarding Jeremiah’s glimmer of hope regarding the courts rectifying how a child is prosecuted. Now to almost 4 years later when Mr. Bougeois gets a denial based on some vague system that denies him on his “score” but this is not for a credit card but for his life. He has paid his dues. He has grown in the prison system which is no easy act. He needs to be given parole now.
I will send my thoughts to the parole review board but this story needs to be blasted.
My thoughts exactly. Arbitrary justice is not justice.
Thank you Liz for your willingness to write to the parole review board. THEY must hear from a lot of us. Like you said, “this story needs to be blasted” I’m Emily Bourgeois, Jeremiah’s mother. Take care.
I am truly in awe of your release having the ridiculous sentence placed upon you. I am so glad one state and the parole board members had sense to release you. A person 21 and under does not have the maturity and the brain of those of say a 24 yr old.I am witness to that. My son has sat in jail for 3 yrs waiting for trial only to get “swayed” into pleading guilty to a tad lesser charge. Wish he hadn’t.
In those 3 years I discovered many many atrocities, inhumane treatment, unsafe and unsanitary conditions, to name just 3, where my child is housed.
I fight an uphill battle with this facility daily. Where is everyone who knows the truths? I don’t know but I alone am determined to make change. I also found how corrupt our court system and parole board have become. Im 58. I have always say Everyone, juveniles and adults, deserve beyond 2nd chances, when proven to the board/society the changes made within the offender. I don’t believe at all in juveniles being treated as adults and stuck in an adult prison. Why people don’t realize they are breeding violence or harsher violences in a prison setting, is beyond me.
In Kentucky it’s pretty much, “lock em up and through away the key” with any offense involving violence or a gun.I do admire your steps and drive to impact your freedom. It’s a beautiful thing.
I wish you all the best. I highly doubt you will re-offend. Thank you! [this post has been condensed]
I have an LO eligible for parole and State of Florida first parole hearing after doing 25 years he was given more time due to some number system they have for the first time you go up for parole He had to wait seven years for his second parole hearing, which is in one and a half years. The state of Florida lets out less than 1% of the 4000 eligible parolees a year is there anywhere I can find Jeremiah’s brief please help